


Through the Woods

by Buywood



Category: The Mandalorian (TV)
Genre: M/M, Star Wars - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-12-25
Updated: 2021-01-30
Packaged: 2021-03-11 00:21:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 6,129
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28325985
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Buywood/pseuds/Buywood
Summary: Din Djarin goes with Luke and Grogu to the training location. Unfortunately, it's a long journey with lots of stops (along with detours and giant, flesh-eating snails). Something starts to happen along the way...
Relationships: Din Djarin & Grogu | Baby Yoda, Din Djarin/Luke Skywalker, Grogu | Baby Yoda & Luke Skywalker
Comments: 25
Kudos: 165





	1. Houses and Hunting

**Author's Note:**

> Hi! I noticed there aren't too many works for this tag and I ship it and I write, so here we are. Hope you enjoy! (I should post frequently, but the chapters will vary in length and if I'm busy it'll be a while before I post. I'll try to let you know in advance.)

“Luke? Where are you?”

“I’m over here, Din. Grogu got himself into some trouble.”

“What kind of trouble? Is he okay?”

“He’s fine, Din. Just tripped, is all.”

Ignoring Luke, Din crouched down next to Grogu where he was sitting on a small branch. “You good buddy?”

Grogu didn’t answer, but he did coo as his ears twitched, so Din took that as a yes. After a certain amount of time, parents tend to get used to their kids’ mannerisms. 

_Wait, parents? Kids? When did I start- You know what, nevermind._

Luke smiled as if he could hear Din’s thoughts, and the satisfied way his lips curled as he did made Din want to scream. He didn’t, but the inclination remained. It didn’t help that Luke could practically read his mind - he was used to keeping his thoughts and emotions private, behind a wall that was literally made of beskar. It was unsettling to have someone invade that space. 

“Come. There’s a place over here where we can stay for the night. There will be several along the way, we’ll have to stay in them each night.”

“What’s with the night? Are there… monsters, or something?” Din wanted to punch himself in the face. Of course there were monsters. It wasn’t a question of whether, but rather how many. 

Luke said as much. “You could call them that. Only if you consider flesh-eating, twenty foot tall snails that run faster than a tauntaun and scream loudly monsters, though.”

Is he… joking?

Luke, sensing Din’s emotions again, shakes his head. “I'm not joking. You’re welcome to stay outside and find out for yourself if you wish.”

Facing Luke (and rolling his eyes under the helmet) Din gestured for Luke to continue on to the safe place. Even though he’d never admit it to the jedi, Din did not feel like encountering giant, flesh-eating snails anytime soon. 

Neither did Grogu, it seemed - he had already started to run off in the direction Luke had pointed, forcing Din and Luke to chase after him. Well, Din chased after him. Luke did some strange, jedi thing that involved leaping incredibly far distances before settling gently on the ground and taking off again. 

_How does he do that with the trees there? There’s like, at least twelve trees. At least. Definitely more._

“You coming?” Luke paused from his precarious perch on a thin branch. 

“Yeah. Just give me a minute.” Din assessed the sky, but no luck. There were too many low-hanging and long branches for him to safely fly, which meant walking. It also meant no showing off, which sucked for reasons Din couldn’t explain. It’s not like he wanted to show off to the jedi. More like he didn’t want to be shown up. Yes, that was it. He doesn’t like being shown up; never has. 

That doesn’t stop Luke from showing him up. The way the jedi moves in the air is graceful, animated but calm, fast but cautious. Somehow the man has found a way to achieve balance in more than one place. 

As Din watches, Luke misjudges, trips, and falls to the ground. Unfortunately (in Din’s opinion anyway) Luke doesn’t crash - instead, he rolls and comes up to his feet, dusting his shoulder off even though it’s not dirty. Despite the graceful recovery, Din can’t help but start to smile - the man is still human after all. After a moment, his smile fades out - around the same time that he realizes this guy is going to teach Grogu. He’s going to have to keep a close eye on Luke to make sure that he’s up to snuff. People seem to treat him like he’s some sort of powerful figure, but Din’s never been one to let other people’s opinions influence his own interpretations. That can get you killed, and fast. 

\----

“This is the safe place?”

“I said it was a place we could spend the night, not a palace, Din.” Though Luke usually sounded patient, his current frustration was clear. It had taken them some time to catch up with Grogu, and once they had, it had almost been dark. They had had to hurry through the woods to get to the building, and they hadn’t had time to gather berries or hunt. 

Based on the appearance of the safe building, there wasn’t going to be any food inside. If there was, it wouldn’t be much - and it would probably be old and rotted. 

“Would you like to go first, or shall I?” that maddening calm had returned to Luke’s voice, and it took twice as much effort as it had not to scream. 

“You go ahead. I don’t like to have people behind me.”

“Of course not. Follow me.”

Din hesitated, then followed wearily. He didn’t have anything against jedi - unless this calm voice was hereditary - but years of bounty hunting instincts don’t wash away in an instant. Besides, he needs to make sure Luke will be a good teacher for Grogu - that’s more important than anything. 

“Your room is on the left. I’ll take the one on the right. Grogu can-”

“Grogu stays with me,” said Din, trying to make his helmet look angry. Unfortunately, the jedi looked unperturbed. Helmets don’t show a lot of emotion, but the jedi could always not care. 

“Alright. Ignore the noises, it’s just the snails.”

They each walked to their respective rooms, Din picking up Grogu on the way. 

“C’mon, kid. It’s time for bed.”

\------  
“Are we heading out?” 

Turning, Luke said, “I am going out to hunt. The snails are dangerous, but they are a good food source, and they’re our best option right now. I should be back soon.”

“I’ll go with you,” Din said. 

“Thank you, but it’s not necessary to-”

“I’d rather keep an eye on you myself. Besides, I’d like to see these snails you keep talking about.”

Luke paused, then said, “Alright. But make sure the child is safe - and that he stays here. I’ll be by the door.”

A few moments later, all the doors and windows were locked, and instructions were conveyed to Grogu twice - once by Din, who received only a blank, slightly happy look, and once by Luke, who used the force to properly tell Grogu not to leave. It took a second before Grogu acknowledged the instructions, and another moment before he figured out Din was okay with them. 

When Din and Luke were confident that Grogu understood he needed to stay in the house, they headed out. 

Ignoring the squeaking of the front door, Din stepped out after the jedi and did a retake. The already creepy feeling permeating the atmosphere was magnified by the darkness, and on top of that a fog had rolled in. The distant sound of screaming echoed through the area, and Din’s hand jumped to his blaster. 

“No, wait. It’s not human, it’s the snail. And fast movements startle them, so be careful. And slow.”

“Shouldn’t be a problem with you around.”

Luke glanced at Din, and Din was rewarded by the plain annoyance on Luke’s face. True, it had been a little cheap, and it almost made Din feel bad - until Luke started talking in his calm voice again. It made him seem less than human - the very thing Din himself loved so greatly about wearing his helmet. 

“Just follow me. And be careful.”

“I got it.”

Luke hissed through his teeth. “Great.”

So they set off into the night. 

It wasn’t as majestic as it sounded. Running off into the night, hunting snails, walking through twelve feet of mud while knowing you can’t fly because there are trees, watching a green lightsaber whirl through the air, making you feel the weight of the one at your hip, all of it. It all sucked. Especially the mud. 

“As interesting as that was, I do have to say that mud sucked.”

“Yes, Din. I was there. It quite literally sucked.”

“I mean, why would mud even try to drag you down into the bottomless depths of the ground? What’s it got against people?”

“Well, how would you feel if you were being walked on?”

Din sighed. This again? Seemingly the only way the jedi spoke was in riddles, ones that often repeated - or at least followed a pattern. It had seriously made Din consider checking to see if there were any short-wired mechanical parts in his brain that needed fixing. 

“Alright. This will be ready in the morning,” said Luke, lighting a fire and putting the meat on over it. 

“Does someone need to watch that?”

“No, it will watch itself.”

“...what?”

“It will be fine, Din. Don’t worry about it. Go to bed; we have a long journey over the next few days.”

“Fine. Good night.”

Luke looked briefly surprised, and he paused a moment before saying quietly, “Goodnight, Din.”


	2. Sand Pits

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Luke gets stuck in quicksand while they're traveling to the next 'safe place,' and Din has to get him out while Luke tries not to sink; they're still not getting along great.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi! I had a lot of time to write, so here's the next chapter! It's not happening how I (kind of) planned, the characters have been put into the story and are now doing their own thing. It happens.

Din woke to the sound of plates clattering in the kitchen. He didn’t have a watch set to the correct time zone - he used to have an automatically adjusting one, but it either got eaten by spiders or swallowed by mud, so he can’t use it - but from the way light was only just peeking up over the land outside, he could tell it was early. Earlier than he has ever enjoyed getting up. 

He finishes putting on his armor and heads down the short corridor - the building isn’t very large, after all - and stops short when he sees the jedi standing in the kitchen, fully dressed in his billowing robes (why are they billowing when there’s no wind?) and scraping food into a small bowl, which he hands to Grogu. Actually, Grogu is the most surprising part of it all - he’s settled in the crook of the jedi’s elbow, munching happily on the food that was just handed to him. His head is resting on the jedi’s arm, and Din can’t honestly say that he doesn’t look happy. At home. 

_See?_ says a small voice in his head. _He doesn’t need you anymore. The jedi is his teacher, and there’s no room for you._

The voice is not wrong, and it’s nagging at Din, but he pushes it away and focuses on the present. That’s how you survive, right? Focusing on the moment?

“How did you sleep?”

“I slept fine,” said Din, adding, “And you?” after an awkward pause. 

Luke considered Din for a moment before saying, “Also fine. There’s food in a bowl there, if you’d like to take it to your room to eat. I understand you don’t like to take your helmet off in front of other people?”

“That’s correct.” Din paused, and looked at Grogu, and saw how happy he was, before saying quietly, “Yes, I’ll take it in my room.”

He didn’t look back, and Grogu didn’t follow him. 

\----

“Din? It’s time to head out.”

“Give me a minute.” Din started gathering the empty bowl from where it was on the floor, taking care not to knock it over - and taking the same care not to thing about how happy Grogu was going to be here. Without him. “Ready?”

“Yes, Din. We were waiting on you.” Something seems different about the jedi’s imperturbable voice, but Din can’t quite place it. He almost seems annoyed, which irks Din. What reason does the jedi have to be upset? Before Din can say anything, though, the jedi is walking out the door, Grogu turning his head to look back and forth between the two. 

“C’mon, kid, let’s head out. Follow the jedi.”

\----

“Why did we go this way, again?”

“Because it’s supposed to be the right way!” The jedi’s composure is mostly gone, and for the first time Din realizes that Luke - the jedi - isn’t as old as his abilities make him seem. He’s not young, either, but he’s not so distant from youth that he can stay calm while more sucky mud (the jedi called it quicksand) attempts to, well, suck him in. 

“Give me a hand over here, will you?” 

“I’m trying, jedi, but the thing about sucky mud is that it sucks anyone touching it into it. It’s a careful process, getting people out.”

“Right, a careful process. Excuse me while I stop sinking for a minute so you can daintily walk across the quicksand.”

Din turned in circles on the edge of the pit, ignoring Luke’s comment. But wow, the jedi had really lost his composure. As interesting as it was to see him act like a normal a person, it certainly wasn’t helpful - especially right now, when he was about to die. Who would teach Grogu if the jedi was dead? The nice lady had already said no, and no other jedi had come to find Grogu. 

“Here.” Din picked up a large stick, lay himself on the ground next to the quicksand pit, and stretched the stick out towards Luke, who was also laying out like a starfish - he was still sinking, though. They didn’t have long. 

Luke reached out with his hand, barely grabbing hold of the stick.

“Are you holding on?” Din checked - he didn’t want to pull the stick back before Luke was on it, and his helmet was too fogged for him to see anything. As many things as he had against the jedi, he didn’t want him to _die._

“Yes, hurry up.” Luke turned his head so he wasn’t facing the quicksand pit - he was too far submerged to turn on his back safely, and it wouldn’t be good if he drowned before Din even got the chance to pull him out all the way. 

“I’m _trying._ ” Staying parallel to the ground, Din slowly started pulling on the stick and by extention, the jedi. 

When Luke was only a few feet from the edge of the pit, the stick snapped in half. 

“Dank Farrick,” Din swore, jumping up to grab another stick before Luke sank. 

“Hurry. The more I have to keep my head up, the faster my legs sink.”

“I _am_ hurrying,” Din said, right as he found a nearby stick that would work for the task - there weren’t many. If there hadn’t been one nearby… well, Grogu’s training might’ve ended before it even started. At least, the training he would get from _this jedi._ There had to be another one, right? This jedi couldn’t be the only one.

“Here, take this,” said Din. 

“Great. Another stick. That worked so well the last time, didn’t it?”

Din rolled his eyes but said nothing in response as Luke took the end of the stick and tightened his grip. 

“Ready?”

“Ready.”

Din started pulling again, not nearly as carefully this time - the jedi’s legs were mostly submerged, which meant they didn’t have much time. Not that they had in the first place, but still. They had significantly less time now. 

“Are you going to pull?”

“I am pulling, jedi.”

“Well pull faster,” Luke said, just as Din pulled him out. 

The two collapsed on the bank, Luke lying where he had landed, on top of Din, and Din lying where _he_ had landed, underneath Luke. They stayed there for a moment, ignoring each other as they each caught their breath. Nearly dying and nearly watching someone die really takes something out of you, apparently. 

Once he had caught his breath, Luke cleared his throat and looked at Din. “Thank you.”

Din paused before answering - were the jedi’s cheeks red, or did he need to clean his helmet? - then said, “No problem, jedi.” And got up. 

Luke stood next to him, and though Din wasn’t looking in his direction, he could tell the jedi was frowning. 

“You can call me Luke, you know.”

“I’m only here to make sure you’re capable of training the jedi - I don’t care about anything else.”

Luke’s frowned deepened before he regained his composure. “Well then. Let’s head to the next ‘safe place’ as you called it. We shouldn’t need to hunt today since we still have the meat from yesterday, but this building is farther away than the first one.”

“Great.” Din hadn’t meant to be rude - he was just trying to tell the truth. Besides, Grogu and the jedi seemed to get along great - the jedi didn’t need him, either. It seemed like the only one who actually needed someone else was him. He was about to lose the second member of his clan of two to this man - how could he be happy about that?

They walked the rest of the way in silence, Grogu glancing between the two, concerned.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Leave a kudos and/or comment! :) I hope you enjoyed!


	3. Earthquakes

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Grogu goes missing and poor Din just wants to Dad™, Luke is ~hungry~ and oh yeah, there's an earthquake. Kind of.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> That was a bad summary, apologies.   
> Anyway, here's another chapter! Hope you enjoy!

Din exited his room with caution - he wasn’t sure what that noise was, but darn him if he’s not going to be careful. He made enough rash mistakes when he was younger - no need for him to make another one now. He unclipped his holster and reached for his blaster, turning the corner to see- the jedi. Luke.

They stared at each other for a minute, before Din said, “What are you doing up?”

“What- what are you doing up?”

“I came to see what the loud noise was. Sounded like someone dropping something, or running into something, or attacking someone, or something.”

Luke flushed slightly, the tips of his ears, along with his cheeks, turning red. “Oh. That was me. I got up to get a snack,” here, the jedi paused and stared at Din with wide eyes for a moment before adding, “and I dropped a bowl. Nothing to worry about.”

And now the jedi has lost his composure again, just in a different way. Din noticed he’s been doing that a lot - hopefully the jedi is still qualified to train Grogu. He may not like it when the jedi keeps up his composed appearance and overly patient voice, but he still wants Grogu to be trained properly. If that’s a part of being a jedi, then he wants it so long as Grogu does. 

“Right. A jedi dropped a bowl?”

The jedi’s remaining flush vanished, and his face tightened before relaxing into a confused stare. “We are people too, you know. And for someone who says they didn’t learn the Mandalorians’ enmity with the jedi, you seem to be very on edge.”

Din took a deep breath. The jedi hadn’t said it harshly - he merely sounded confused, not angry. Curious, not accusing. He wasn’t wrong, either - he hadn’t been overly nice to the- to Luke; but he had a reason for being so cynical. Most of all that unearned trust can get you killed faster than recklessness. 

So Din said, “I have to make sure the child is safe. That he will be safe, here.” 

The jedi nodded. “Of course.”

Their conversation over, and the potential of a threat no longer present, Din reclipped his holster and turned to walk back to his room. A slice of panic stabbed his gut as he realized he’d been gone longer than planned - Grogu was back in the room - but he shoved it down. He hadn’t been gone for that long, after all, and the kid could take care of himself. Besides, this was a safe house. Grogu would be safe here. 

Immediately after he calmed the thorns of panic, the ground trembled and swayed as the walls shook and pieces of the ceiling fell. Din turned back to look at the jedi, finding him still on his feet as well, balancing carefully on unsteady ground. 

Once the ground and walls stopped shaking and Din could hear well enough to speak, he said, “What was that, jedi? An earthquake?”

“No. That was something big enough to shake the ground running by. It should be gone now, though. I’d recommend checking on Grogu.”

Of course. The kid. How come Din hadn’t thought of that earlier? He was supposed to be a father figure, wasn’t he? He wasn’t doing a very good job at keeping his kid safe. 

Din pushed his thoughts away and started toward his room, faster this time. Hopefully that thing didn’t come back before he could-

“Din, wait- the wall, the creature is outside the- dank farrick, Din!”

Din wasn’t stopping. He could barely hear Luke, and besides, he was still too occupied by thoughts of the child’s safety to focus on himself. Which led Luke to take rather - well, rather drastic measures. 

Din felt his body being pulled back by an invisible force, and still he struggled to get to the kid - to Grogu. He didn’t care if he got hurt, he didn’t care if the walls came tumbling down around him, he didn’t care, he just needed Grogu, he needed the second member of his clan, his _family._

He needed his family to be safe because he couldn’t lose them again. Even if it was only the kid, now. Only the kid. 

The dust settled, and Din pushed himself to his feet - he’d been lying on the floor, next to where the jedi was standing. 

The jedi reached a hand down to help Din up, but he was already on his feet, and he wasn’t planning on accepting any help from the jedi any time soon. He’d make him heal Grogu, if he was hurt, then he’d continue on the journey to wherever they were going, then he’d do whatever else he needed to for Grogu. 

\----

“You think this is my fault.” It wasn’t a question. The jedi was holding a damp rag, wiping drops of blood off his face. 

“It is.”

“If I had let you go, you would have been hurt. Or killed. What would Grogu have done then? I’ve spoken with him before. He would hardly know what to do without you.”

“I doubt that. He seems to be warming up to you nicely.”

The jedi huffed, shoulders falling, and stood for a moment with his eyes closed, hand holding the rag to his cheek. “Let’s get going. We need to find Grogu soon; night has fallen, and we don’t want him to get hurt.”

Din was almost relieved by the return of the jedi’s previous composure; the snark had been infuriating, and the - well, whatever it was that had been Luke blushing in the hallway - had been twice as confusing as the snark had been annoying. 

“Fine.”

\----

“Duck!” the jedi called from somewhere out of sight.

“What? Where?” Din glanced around before getting knocked flat on his back by a giant log that came flying out of nowhere. “Oh, he meant watch my head.”

“Are you alright?” Din looked up to see the jedi walking over, face mostly impassive save for a glimmer of concern in his blue eyes. 

“I’m fine. Let’s keep going.”

Luke considered Din for a moment before saying, “Yes, of course.”

They walked on in silence, Din watching for Grogu’s footprints and Luke reaching out with the force. 

It was hours before the crunching of dead leaves under their feet stopped, before the tedious pace they walked was over. Sitting on a small rock in the sun, was Grogu. He wasn’t doing much besides sitting and watching the clouds. 

It was another few minutes before Din realized why. Above them, the sky had slowly faded from a deep blue that could have been mistaken for black into an assortment of colors that made the sky look like it was on fire. 

Grogue cooed, and Din unfroze from where he had been standing, watching the sunrise, and moved to finish walking to Grogu. 

He re-froze as he saw the jedi picking him up, holding him so he wouldn’t walk away again, asking him if he was alright. That was _his_ job. Grogu was _his_ family. _His clan, _his responsibility- but not anymore. He’d be a part of his clan forever, be his family forever, but he wasn’t his foundling anymore. He’d found, well, been found, by his species. By people who knew how to take care of him.__

__He had to let that take precedence._ _

__Even if it made him feel anger and loss he hadn’t felt since his family was ripped away from him the first time._ _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you read this far, thanks! Leave a kudos and/or comment! If you do leave a comment, I'll try to answer as I see it. (comments > kudos, but both are good)


	4. It's Raining, It's Pouring

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi! I did not have the mental capacity for editing, hope it's alright

“Din?” Din opened the door to find Luke standing uncomfortably close - what had he been doing, kissing the door? - but he didn’t back up. Not at first, anyway; it only took a few minutes for him to be cowed into stepping back and allowing Luke into the small room he had claimed at the current safe house. Hopefully it didn’t end up demolished like the last one. 

“What.” Din didn’t have time for niceties. He was busy trying to-

“Why are you packing? Are you not accompanying us to the temple?” 

“No.” Of course he wasn’t accompanying the jedi to the temple. How could he? He was taking the kid away, whether he offered Din a place at the temple too or not. 

The jedi’s facade shifted, but didn’t crack. To Din, it almost sounded like- no, he must be interpreting the situation incorrectly. Not that he usually interprets the situation correctly, but this time he _knows_ he’s not. 

“Why are you here.” It was barely a question, really, but he meant it all the same. The jedi had no business sitting at his door, questioning his decisions. Then again, he didn’t really know anything about jedi. Maybe that’s what they do in their free time. 

“I wanted to check on you. Make sure you’re okay, and all that.”

“Well you don’t need to. I’m fine, and I’m leaving.”

Din pushed his way past Luke, walked out the door to his room, and headed to the main building door, stopping when Luke said, “Well, you at least owe me an explanation.”

“I don’t owe you anything.” The voice modulator in his helmet made it sound confident, but Din was sure the jedi could tell he considered himself lying. He was. Lying, that is.

“Not for training the kid, no, but you owe me for the trip here, and probably the trip off-planet, unless you consider walking to the nearest - well, wherever you’re headed - a reasonable prospect.”

“The kid doesn’t need me. I have no reason to stay.” 

The jedi’s features softened, and he took a step toward Din and raised his arm as if to rest it on his shoulder before thinking better of it and leaving it by his side. “Din, that’s not true - Grogu needs you. Far more than he’ll ever need me. You’re practically his father - you _are_ his father. He’s already so close to the darkness - having you ripped away from him might tip him over the edge. He still needs you, Din. He still needs you.”

“No he doesn’t. He has you.” Din walked out the door to find it raining. He hadn’t thought Luke would follow him outside - especially not in this weather - but to his surprise, his exodus was stopped by a hand on his arm, pulling him around and making him face the jedi. 

“What d’you mean, he has me? He barely knows me. You’re his father, Din. He doesn’t want anyone else in place of you.” 

“All children have to leave their parents at some point. Might as well rip the bandage off now.” Din turned around again, this time determined the jedi wouldn’t try to make him stay. 

The rain came down harder, forcing Luke to shout to be heard. “You wanna think practical? Fine. We’ll think practical. What’re you gonna do with that lightsaber, huh? You think walking around with that isn’t going to put a bigger target on your back? You need a teacher as much as Grogu does, Din. You’re just too thickheaded to see that you have more than one reason to stay. More than one reason.” The last part came out a whisper, but Din still heard it. 

“Grogu-”

“Needs you. End of discussion. At least stay to help out a desperate teacher who is basically the last person in their- I don’t know what you’d call it, species? Please, stay.”

Din paused. For real, this time. “Fine.”

Luke sighed in relief, and Din realized - distantly - that Luke still hadn’t let go of Din’s arm. He didn’t say anything. They were going to have enough trouble getting back anyway. Maybe using each other for balance would help.

_Sure, Din. Keep making excuses,_ said a voice in his head.

Din told the voice to shut up. He needed a nap - and maybe a drink, if he could catch a moment alone. 

\----

Din was woken up by the sun. That’s right, the sun. The big, giant, glowy thing in the sky that wakes people up at idiotic hours of the day as if it’s determined to punish everyone at the same time. 

Some people aren’t affected by mornings, but Din is not one of them. And he doesn’t like the ones that aren’t. How the kriff do they enjoy getting up in the morning? At least, he’s pretty sure he doesn’t like them. 

“Din! You’re up late. Pancakes?”

Din checked his metaphorical watch. Nope, not late. “Sure.”

The silence that followed felt like a tangible thing. Obviously, something had changed yesterday. Unfortunately, Din wasn’t quite sure what it was. Maybe he ate some bad… whatever it was he’d eaten yesterday? and just needed to use the restroom. 

“Would you like any condiments to take to your room?” Luke came around the corner, and Din did a double take. He was wearing an apron that read, “Kiss the cook,” in basic, and his hair was a mess. His eyes were shining as bright as always, and he paused while waiting for Din’s answer. At least, he paused until he figured out Din was staring at him. “Oh, sorry, you don’t have to listen to the apron. Inanimate objects, and all. Syrup to go?”

Din swallowed. He’d already made his decision, but it didn’t hurt to go over the reasoning again. Luke had already seen his face, he was going to teach Grogu, Grogu needs his teacher, Din needs Grogu, and due to the mandalorian reasoning involving teachers, Luke might as well be part of his clan. 

He could do this. 

“I’ll eat out here, actually. Thank you.”

A pause. “Okay.” Another pause, as if he was going to say something else. Instead, he just said, “Okay,” and walked away. 

“In that case, feel free to obey the apron,” Luke said with a wink, walking out the door. 

Din stared at the door where Luke had left moments before for a minute before deciding compartmentalizing was the way to go. No need to focus on things that might be distracting. Like Luke. 

A happy-sounding coo distracting Din from his thoughts on Luke - the ones he was trying to ignore - and he walked over to where the child was sitting, munching on a native species he had found somehwere. 

“Hey, you good?”

Grogu cooed and raised his arms in the air, asking silently to be picked up. Din obliged. 

They sat for a minute, father and son - whatver the circumstances that had brought them together, they were family. And Din thought himself an idiot for not realizing it sooner. For not accepting it. He’d found his new family, and he wasn’t planning on losing them. Not again. 

His gaze wandered back to the door, where Luke stood against the door frame. 

_No, he thought. _I’m not losing them again._ _

_Even if they are morning people._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *whispers* I'm going to ask for comments again because those are fantastic


	5. There's A Kriffing Creature

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello! Apologies for not posting - it's been a really hectic several weeks. Hope any readers I might have that are in America are staying safe! And literally everyone else as well because, guess what, there's a pandemic going on *shocked gasps*
> 
> Okay, sorry, got that out of my system. I hope you enjoy! It's looking like this'll only be one or two more chapters. 
> 
> Enjoy!

Din’s day was going fine until he tripped. He hadn’t meant to - one second he had been paying attention, the next finding himself staring at Luke’s resting face, tracking the shadows curving around his nose and the flickers of light on his forehead - then he was on the ground, trying not to break his nose on his own helmet.

Luke’s eyes fluttered open. “Din? Are you alright?”

“I’m fine.” 

They were resting by a sorry excuse for a stream, relaxing in the sun on the penultimate stretch of their journey. 

Luke sat up the same time Din did, and it took Din a moment to remember to breathe. He hadn’t noticed Luke’s eyes until yesterday, but he hadn’t been able to stop staring since. Of course, he knew Luke had eyes. Most humans do. But he hadn’t noticed how the sun made them seem like stars; how the moon reflected in them. He hadn’t been able to stop noticing, since. Not that he minded particularly - and he was pretty sure Luke didn’t either. 

Not that they’d spoken much. 

“Din? Are you sure you’re okay? You seem a little,” Luke waved his hands around vaguely. “Distracted.” 

“I’m fine.” A pause. “Thank you for asking.” It sounded formal, but he meant it, and Luke knew it. 

For a moment, neither of them said anything; they sat and watched wisps of fading fog trail through the air, listened to the utter silence that was the absence of anything awake nearby. 

A snap like thunder broke the silence, and Luke jumped to his feet, both of them reaching for their holstered weapons. Remembering Grogu, Din turned and nudged him behind him, where he would be relatively safe. There shouldn’t be much of anything out during the day anyway, but the universe never has been in the habit of obeying its laws. 

The tense silence stretched, and both Din and Luke had started to relax, turning to check that nothing had happened to the other - or Grogu, for that matter - when a stark white and green, scaled creature with a large, dull horn on its nose came crashing out of the bushes. Out of the bushes - and straight into Luke. 

“Woah!” Luke rolled out from under the creature before leaping into the air to avoid it as it turned around. Both Luke and Din had had the same idea - as Luke was leaping to avoid the creature, Din was picking up Grogu and activating his jetpack to do the same. There were few enough trees in the area that Din wasn’t in danger of hitting any of them - but, unfortunately, neither Luke nor Din had been paying enough attention to anything but the creature to avoid crashing directly into each other. 

They fell, Luke with more grace than would be expected and Din with - well, with as much grace can be expected of a person when they’ve crashed into a jedi. Both grunted on impact, Din because he landed sideways, and Luke because the creature decided it was a good time to storm back into the bushes it came from, and also that pushing Luke over was the way to do it. 

Of course, that made them both grunt again - this time because Luke fell right on top of Din. 

They didn’t stay that way for long. Luke pushed himself to his elbows - well, one elbow; the other arm was busy making sure his nose didn’t drip blood on Din - and squinted at Din, as if he was making sure he was alright. 

“You’re bleeding,” said Din after a pause. “Are you alright?”

“I’m fine,” said Luke, the tone of his voice altered due to his efforts to stem the bleeding. “It’s just a nosebleed.”

“Yeah.” Din nodded. “A tip: mandalorian armor hurts when you crash into it.”

For a moment, Luke didn’t respond, and Din was worried he’d offended him. Then Luke let out a laugh that made more blood spray out of his nose, cutting the - in Din’s opinion - rather wonderful laugh short. 

“Here. Let’s take a look at that.” Din reached up and brushed Luke’s fingers away from his nose and stared for a moment. 

“Everything alright, Doctor Djarin?”

Din rolled his eyes. “Yes, fine. I can’t see with this helmet on, it fogs up when I breathe. Hold on.” Din pulled his helmet off and squinted at Luke’s nose. “Yeah, it’s fine. Doesn’t look broken or anything, just bleeding.”

“I could have told you that easily.” Luke was grinning. 

Din blinked. Of course he could have. “Then why the Kriff didn’t you?”

Luke’s smile widened, and Din got to hear him laugh again. But he didn’t answer, he just stared at Din till his face turned red. Till both their faces turned red. 

Luke said something indistinguishable, his face tucked into his shoulder, and Din had to wonder at how the calm, collected Master Jedi had turned into this beautiful blushing boy. 

“What was that?”

“I said, ‘I like you, idiot. That’s why.’”

Another moment of silence, then Din leaned back onto the ground where he was half-sitting, next to Luke. And he grinned, and kept grinning, until Luke stopped staring nervously and grinned too. 

“I like you too.”

Grogu had to give the idiots a minute to sort themselves out after that. Not that he’d been eavesdropping in the first place, of course. 

_Next time, _thought Din. _I’m going to take orders from an apron sooner rather than later. _____

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you got this far, thanks for reading! Please leave a comment and/or kudos - preferably comment but both are good! (Hopefully it made sense, I didn't get to do much editing.)

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you enjoyed! Next chapter should be out soon, leave a kudos and/or comment!


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